Quick Takes: Professor Ranked 2nd Best Job, Access for Low-Income Students, Community College Transfers to U.Va., State College Group Weighs In on Accountability, Florida A

Submitted by Scott Jaschik on April 13, 2006 - 4:00am

Money Magazine[1] has ranked the job of college professor as the second best job to have in the United States. The rankings are based both on salary and on letter grades awarded on various factors. Professor received a B for stress, A for flexibility, A for creativity and C for difficulty. Software engineer was the only job to rank higher.

Low-income and minority students are in danger of losing access to higher education, according to a report[2] released Wednesday by the Institute for Higher Education Policy. The report -- underwritten by the Nellie Mae Education Foundation -- notes a "convergence" of events that threaten access for students from underrepresented groups.

The University of Virginia on Wednesday announced a new system[3] under which graduates of the state's community college system who fulfill certain requirements will be assured a place in U.Va.'s College of Arts and Sciences. While such articulation agreements exist in various forms in many states, they are more rare among colleges like Virginia that are extremely competitive in admissions. [4]

Public colleges can no longer afford to operate under a "trust the academy" approach to student learning, the American Association of States Colleges and Universities says in a white paper[4] to be released today. The association suggests that public colleges work together to develop a common method of gauging how much students learn, incorporating three kinds of tools: one -- like the Collegiate Learning Assessment or similar tests from ACT or ETS -- that aims to measure directly what a college's students have learned; another, like the National Survey of Student Engagement, that measures the behaviors and activities that correlate to student learning; and a third, such as a survey of alumni or employers, that seeks to measure the impact of a college's education after the fact.

Five students at Florida A&M University were arrested Tuesday on charges arising out of an alleged hazing incident in which a fraternity pledge was said to have been subjected to beatings for four consecutive nights, the Associated Press[5] reported. The victim's injuries were so bad that he had to withdraw from the university for a semester.

A student in a ninja costume was briefly detained at gunpoint Tuesday at the University of Georgia by federal agents who were on campus for a training event, the AP[6] reported. The student was dressed up as part of a "ninja vs. pirate event," and was released when the agents determined that he had violated no law.